Thursday, July 26th, 2007

Baby Neckties for Work-at-Office Dads

BabyTie.com sells a simple service. Send them a photo of your baby and they will put it on the base of a necktie. A close-up of your baby’s face and shoulders works best, and they remove the background for you.

Traditional fathers will want a black silk or polyester tie. Liberated dads may opt for a genderized blue or pink polyester tie. The price ranges from $25 to $28.

If you have twins, or a self-absorbed older child, no worries. The folks at BabyTie.com can fit multiple heads on your necktie.

Unfortunately, the baby photo is oriented for viewing by coworkers. Such a placement encourages the oggling of dad’s sympathy belly which he grew during the pregnancy.

The photo’s orientation is also unfortunate because the primary viewer of the tie is actually the dad, who will be lifting up the tie to look at his upside-down baby every 5 minutes. The baby head should be printed upside down so it appears right-side up from the dad’s viewpoint. When asked by coworkers about the odd orientation, dad can simply explain that the baby was dropped on his head.

To be fair, my wife sees things a different way. Because the baby’s head is oriented upright on the tie, dads will spend much of their time washing their hands in the restroom to see their baby reflected in the mirror. All that this really tells me is that my wife spends a lot of time thinking about men in restrooms.

A nice perk of a baby tie is the free reign you will receive at lunch time. When you spill ketchup or any sauce on your tie, it will come out looking like baby food. The more often you wear the tie, the more authentic it becomes.

Buy one at BabyTie.com, or google for other vendors with the keywords “photo necktie.”